Sultans, Spices & Covered Streets

A walk through the beating commercial heart of the Ottoman Empire

Istanbul · 16 stops · 5.5 km · ~1.8 h · Generated

  1. 1. Hippodrome of Constantinople

    Sultan Ahmet Meydanı, Sultanahmet, Istanbul

    Hippodrome of Constantinople

    You are standing on one of the most extraordinary pieces of ground in the world. Beneath your feet... about two meters down... lies the original racing surface of the Hippodrome of Constantinople. This was not just a stadium. It was the sporting and social center of the entire Eastern Roman Empire.

    The Roman emperor Septimius Severus first built a hippodrome here around the year two hundred and three. But it was Constantine the Great who, in preparation for making this city his new capital, commissioned an expansion and linked it to an imperial palace, making the hippodrome central to every ceremony. When finished, the track was about four hundred and fifty meters long, one hundred and thirty meters wide, and could hold forty to fifty Thousand screaming spectators.

    Now look at that tall pink granite column. That is the Obelisk of Theodosius... and it is staggeringly old. Pharaoh Thutmose the Third first erected it around fourteen seventy nine B.C. at the great temple of Karnak in Egypt. It was built to commemorate a successful military campaign in Syria. Emperor Constantius the Second had already removed it from Egypt and left it abandoned on the banks of the Nile. It lay there for decades... until Theodosius the First finally had it shipped to Constantinople and raised on this very spot in three ninety A.D. And here is a detail most people miss. Look closely at the marble base. The name Pro-culus on the Latin inscription was once chiseled off... because the man fell out of favor and was Executed. But four years later his reputation was restored, and his name was re-carved back into the stone!

    Now, that twisted bronze stump nearby? That is the Serpent Column. It was originally built to celebrate the Greek victory over the Persian Empire at the Battle of Plataea in four seventy nine B.C. Constantine himself had it brought from Delphi in three twenty four. Imagine... three intertwined bronze serpents, with three open-jawed heads supporting a golden tripod! The Byzantines believed it was a talisman. The Ottoman writer Evliya ÇeleBi described it as protecting the city from snakes, scorpions, and other vermin. Then, on the night of October twentieth, seventeen hundred... the heads vanished. A French traveler reported that the Polish ambassador's entourage, lodged in the nearby Palace of Ibrahim Pasha, included a drunken nobleman who may have hacked them off. But an Ottoman source claims all three heads simply fell to the ground on their own, with a noise like a powerful man chopping down trees. The truth? Nobody knows for certain.

    And This ground witnessed the deadliest sports riot in history. In January five thirty two, the Blues and the Greens... rival chariot racing factions that were really political Gangs... united under a single chant: Nika! Victory! That word, once shouted to urge on charioteers, was now directed against Emperor Justinian himself. For five days, Constantinople burned. Justinian prepared to flee... until he ordered his general Belisarius to attack the rioters, resulting in the slaughter of around thirty thousand people... right here, in this very arena. Because the city was so extensively damaged by fire, Justinian was able to rebuild, giving us Hagia Sofia as it stands today.

    So pause for a moment. You are surrounded by three thousand five hundred years of layered history. An Egyptian obelisk. A Greek war trophy. A Roman arena. A Byzantine massacre. And Ottoman legends. All in one square.

  2. 2. Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque)

    Sultan Ahmet Camii, Sultanahmet, Istanbul

  3. 3. Arasta Bazaar

    Arasta Çarşısı, Torun Sokak, Sultanahmet, Istanbul

  4. 4. Hagia Sophia

    Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi, Sultanahmet, Istanbul

  5. 5. Haseki Hürrem Sultan Hamamı

    Ayasofya Hürrem Sultan Hamamı, Sultanahmet, Istanbul

  6. 6. Çemberlitaş Column

    Çemberlitaş Sütunu, Divanyolu Caddesi, Istanbul

  7. 7. Nuruosmaniye Mosque

    Nuruosmaniye Camii, Vezirhanı Caddesi, Fatih, Istanbul

  8. 8. Grand Bazaar — Cevahir Bedesten (Inner Bedesten)

    Kapalıçarşı, İç Bedesten, Beyazıt, Fatih, Istanbul

  9. 9. Sahaflar Çarşısı (Book Bazaar)

    Sahaflar Çarşısı, Beyazıt, Fatih, Istanbul

  10. 10. Beyazıt Mosque & Square

    Beyazıt Camii, Beyazıt Meydanı, Fatih, Istanbul

  11. 11. Beyazıt Tower

    Beyazıt Kulesi, Istanbul Üniversitesi Merkez Kampüsü, Beyazıt, Istanbul

  12. 12. Süleymaniye Mosque

    Süleymaniye Camii, Süleymaniye Mahallesi, Fatih, Istanbul

  13. 13. Tomb of Mimar Sinan

    Mimar Sinan Türbesi, Mimar Sinan Caddesi, Süleymaniye, Fatih, Istanbul

  14. 14. Rüstem Paşa Mosque

    Rüstem Paşa Camii, Hasırcılar Caddesi, Eminönü, Fatih, Istanbul

  15. 15. Mısır Çarşısı — Spice Bazaar

    Mısır Çarşısı, Eminönü, Fatih, Istanbul

  16. 16. Yeni Camii (New Mosque) & Galata Bridge View

    Yeni Camii, Eminönü Meydanı, Fatih, Istanbul